Serial rapists indicted for attacks on seven women

A pair of brutal serial rapists has been indicted by the Grand Jury for attacks on seven women.

Derrick Lartdale, 48, was charged with the rapes of three women, all of them involving home invasions, two in August of 1995 and one in May of 1996. The Grand Jury indicted him on four counts of rape, three counts of kidnapping, one count of felonious sexual penetration and 10 counts of aggravated burglary.

Nathan Ford, 48, was charged with the rapes of four women, one in 1995, one in 1998 and two in 2000. The Grand Jury indicted him on five counts of rape, five counts of kidnapping, two counts of felonious assault and one count of aggravated robbery.

DNA evidence that led to these indictments was discovered in rape kits collected from the victims at the time of the attacks and tested as part of Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative. That testing and follow-up investigative work by the Cuyahoga County Sexual Assault Kit Task Force has now led to the indictment of 357 defendants.

In each of the attacks for which Lartdale has just been indicted, he broke into homes and told his victims – ages 19, 16 and 23 – that he was armed and threatened them if they resisted. When the mother of one victim interrupted Lartdale’s assault, he dragged the victim outside and raped her in a neighboring yard.

Ford grabbed three of his four victims off the street, using a gun in one instance and choke holds in two to force them to submit. His fourth attack took place in a bathroom at Cleveland State University where he hit his victim in the head and forced her into a stall.

Both men are currently serving lengthy prison sentences for previous sexual assaults.

Lartdale is serving a 62-year sentence at the Mansfield Correctional Institution and Ford is serving a 113-year sentence at the Trumbull Correctional Institution.